104. Editorial Note
In a communique issued in Havana on April 15, 1961, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro charged that at 6 a.m. that morning B-26 bombers from the United States simultaneously bombed points in the cities of Havana, San Antonio de los Banos, and Santiago. Castro accused the [Page 229] United States of “imperialist aggression” and added that the Cuban Delegation to the United Nations had been instructed to ask the United Nations to respond to a formal charge of aggression against Cuba by the United States. (American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961, page 289) In New York a statement issued on April 15 by Miro Cardona, as President of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, contended that the bombing of Cuban airfields that morning was done by “certain members of the Cuban Air Force,” who had been in contact with, and were encouraged by the Cuban Revolutionary Council. (Ibid., page 290)
On the afternoon of April 15, an urgent meeting of the Political (First) Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations was called to consider the conflict developing in Cuba. The committee had on its agenda a complaint by Cuba pending from October 18, 1960, that the United States was preparing “various plans of aggression and acts of intervention against Cuba.” (U.N. doc. A/4543) The Political Committee took up the agenda item 2 days earlier than scheduled in response to reports of bombing in Cuba, and Cuban Foreign Minister Roa accused the United States of aggression against the territorial integrity and political independence of the Republic of Cuba. Roaʼs charge was supported by the Soviet Representative, Valerian A. Zorin, who warned that “Cuba has many friends in the world who were ready to come to its aid, including the Soviet Union.”
Ambassador Stevenson answered for the United States and denied the Cuban charges of aggression. Stevenson cited President Kennedyʼs press conference statement of April 12 that United States armed forces would not “under any conditions” intervene in Cuba, and that the United States would do everything in its power to ensure that no United States citizens would participate in actions against Cuba. Stevenson added that President Kennedy was opposed to the use of United States territory to mount an offensive against a foreign government. According to his information, Stevenson told the committee, the air raids against the Cuban cities had been carried out by defectors from the Cuban Air Force who had subsequently landed in Florida and had asked for political asylum. (U.N. doc. A/C.1/SR.1149)